Tomorrow Will Be Kinder
by missdallywinston
Summary: Aria sighed heavily as she neared Ezra's hospital room. She prayed that he was awake because she desperately needed him right now. Even if they weren't together, she needed him to comfort her. Nobody knew her like he did and he always knew what to say. Based on the events of 5x01. Don't read if you haven't seen the episode. One shot.


As the five girls walked out of the theater, each of them felt utterly numb. While the others were all shaky to just witness a murder, Aria was shaky because she had _committed_ the murder. She felt like she was about to collapse at any second and had no clue how she was even still standing.

This was by far the worst, most exhausting night of her life. First, she had the emotional conversation with her mother about Ezra, then she listened to Alison finally explain mysteries that haunted them for years, after that Ezra had been shot in front of her and almost bled out in her arms, and to top it off, she killed someone.

She heard her friends discussing their plans to leave. Alison had announced that there was a bus to Rosewood that always ran late and that was their best option. "So, I guess we should head to the bus station?" Alison suggested.

All the girls agreed, but Aria spoke up. "Um, before we go back home, can we go back to the hospital really quick?" The girls looked at her tiredly, so Aria added, "I didn't really get to talk to Ezra after he told me it was Shana and I need to talk to him now."

"Of course," Alison smiled. "I kinda wanna thank him too if he's awake."

They all walked together towards the subway and Spencer nudged Aria. "Are you gonna tell Ezra that you… about what happened to Shana?"

Aria stopped in her tracks. She couldn't imagine how Ezra would react to a confession about her killing someone. "I don't, I don't know. I just need to see him right now."

XXXX

Aria sighed heavily as she neared Ezra's hospital room. She prayed that he was awake because she desperately needed him right now. Even if they weren't together, she needed him to comfort her. Nobody knew her like he did and he always knew what to say.

Stepping inside the room, she saw a nurse checking Ezra's vitals. Aria wasn't sure if she should bolt and come back when she was gone, but Ezra spotted her before she could. He smiled just a tiny bit and Aria was happy that oxygen mask was no longer covering his face. The two just stared at each other before the nurse noticed her as well.

"Are you family?" she asked harshly.

Aria was caught off guard and looked from Ezra to the nurse. "W-what?"

"Are you family?" she repeated. "You can't be in here unless your family."

Without missing a beat, Aria nodded. "Yeah, I am.

The nurse squinted her eyes and looked at Ezra for confirmation. Before the nurse could ask him anything, though, Aria interrupted, "I'm his wife. I can be here."

"Fine, but he needs his rest so be quick."

Aria just nodded as the woman walked past her out the door. Once the nurse closed the door, Aria very steadily walked towards the bed. He was smirking like crazy and if anyone else had seen the smug look on his face, you would never know he just got out of a complicated surgery.

"My wife?" Ezra questioned teasingly.

Aria just laughed a little and shrugged. The carefree moment didn't last long, though. Aria sighed and sat on the edge of her bed. She felt her eyes pool with tears as she whispered, "You were right. About Shana."

Ezra sat up a little, but winced at the action. Aria tsked and patted is leg. "Ezra, be careful! You're still really fragile. I don't know what they told you, but the surgery was really complicated."

"They told you?" Ezra asked. He didn't mean it rudely, it was just that the nurse had seemed like she hadn't seen her before.

Aria looked at him and shook her head a little. "No, I, uh, I actually overheard the nurse talking to your mother. She's on her way, actually. But she's coming from Australia so it'll be a while."

"Great," Ezra said unenthusiastically. "I haven't seen her since I found out about Malcolm. I'm sure she'll just complain about wasting money on a grandchild that wasn't hers and not even care that I almost died."

"Sounds about right," Aria chuckled. She never understood how such an overall sweet guy was the son of an evil, self-absorbed she devil.

Ezra shook his head slightly and sighed. The only noise in the room was his heart monitor before Ezra spoke up. "Are the girls safe? Did you tell them it was Shana?"

"Um, yeah, we're okay," Aria nodded. Her heart pounded against his chest before she decided to spill everything. Who could it hurt? He clearly wasn't writing the book anymore. "Um, we weren't actually. When I got there, she was holding them at gunpoint and she was screaming and – "

"Aria, breathe," Ezra interrupted. She hadn't taken a breath that whole statement and he was scared about what she was going to reveal. Had Shana gotten away? Was one of her friends hurt?

Once she took the pause, tears began pouring down her cheeks. It was self-defense, but what if the cops didn't believe her and she went to prison? Her chest was heaving and she felt like she was about to faint. Ezra sensed that something was wrong and sat up against his better judgment. He patted her back while internally screaming at the pain he felt, but he wanted to comfort her. "Aria…"

"Shana's dead," Aria choked out, falling into his chest and letting tears soak through his hospital gown.

Ezra smoothed down her hair and asked for confirmation. "She's dead?"

Aria just sobbed louder which confused Ezra further. As far as he knew, she had never even met Shana before tonight. And he definitely didn't get why she would be so upset over her death.

Pausing to take a breath, Aria tried to tell him. "I-I…"

"It's okay." Ezra attempted to calm her.

She took a deep, long breath and pulled away from Ezra. "It's not, it's not okay… Ezra, I- I killed her."

Ezra winced in shock and didn't know how to respond to something like that. "What? What happened?"

"The girls were in some theater and Shana didn't realize I was there and I was behind her and I pushed her." Aria held her head in her hands and started crying again. "What if I get put in jail? What if the cops don't believe it was self-defense? I-I killed her. I ended someone's life."

"Hey, hey," Ezra cooed, wrapping his arm around her again. "Aria, you did what you had to. You won't get in trouble, you won't. If they try to pin it on you, there's lawyers and there's things we can do. Don't worry about that."

"But I killed her!" Aria retorted. "I killed her," she repeated deliriously.

Ezra cautiously kissed her forehead and was happy she didn't shove him away. "Aria, you'll be okay. I promise. You have your friends to help you through it and, if you want, you have me too."

Aria temporarily ceased her crying and turned to him. "Thank you. For the rooftop, for saving us… I don't know what would have happened."

"No thanks necessary," Ezra smiled a little.

Cocking her head, Aria gulped as she looked at him. "And I know I have you, too. I know a lot has happened in the last few weeks, but… I know I do."

"I'm so sorry – " Ezra began.

Aria cut him off. "I know. I've been doubting a lot recently, but seeing you on that rooftop… Ezra, I don't know where we go from here, but I'm really glad you're alive. I don't know what I would do if you died. That would have been my fault too."

"Aria," Ezra disagreed. "It would not have been your fault. None of this is. It's just Shana's."

She let out a deep breath before getting up. She covered his gown cloaked body with the cable knit blanket like he was a four year old. Ezra watched her as she did so, smile never leaving his face. He could definitely get used to Nurse Aria.

"I missed you," Ezra whispered drowsily. He could smell the overpriced shampoo in the air and smiled. He didn't think he'd ever get to smell the familiar smell again.

Despite it only being three days since they had seen each other, Aria smiled back. "Yeah, I've missed you, too." They looked at each other for what seemed like an hour before Aria sighed. "Well, I better go. The girls are waiting on me. And you need your rest."

He nodded and relaxed into the pillows. Aria reached for his hand and squeezed. "Please, _please_, be okay."

"Don't worry about me," Ezra dismissed. "I'll be fine. You and the girls stay safe, okay?"

Aria nodded sadly. "I'll see you soon, okay? I'll try to come back up here in a few days because what I heard from the nurses, you won't be out for a while."

"You don't have to come back up if you want to," Ezra mumbled, gazing at their interlocked hands.

Aria rolled her eyes a tiny bit and tightly clenched his hand. "I do want to." She unlocked their fingers and bent down to kiss his forehead.

After the innocent kiss, Aria felt calmer and smiled. "I'll see you later, Ezra."

* * *

**(A/N:) Hope you enjoyed this! I just had to write something based on the epicness that was 5x01! **

**Don't forget to review!**


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